1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for storing a TV program, and more particularly, to a method of and an apparatus for creating a program table that has information associated with reproducing the TV program and storing the program table with program data.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a structure of a prior art digital television receiving and/or storing apparatus. A general digital broadcast receiving and/or storing system for receiving, storing, and playing a digital television broadcast is formed with a TS demux 102 which receives a Transport Stream (TS) encoded and packetized according to the MPEG-2 standard, extracts program packets related to a desired TV program from the received TS stream, and extracts an Audio/Video (A/V) elementary stream from the extracted program packets, a storing apparatus 104 which stores program packets associated with the TV program that is desired to be stored, a digital interface 106 which transmits to and/or receives from the storing apparatus 104, a control apparatus 108 which controls the demux 102, the digital interface 106 and the storing apparatus 104, an audio decoder 110 which reproduces an audio signal from the A/V elementary stream provided by the TS demux 102, and a video decoder 112 which reproduces a video signal from the A/V elementary stream.
An operation for storing a TV program in the digital television receiving and/or storing apparatus of FIG. 1 will now be explained. Program packets that were multiplexed into a transport stream are demultiplexed by the TS demux 102. The program packets are provided through the digital interface 106 to the storing apparatus 104 where the packets are stored.
Meanwhile, an operation for playing the TV program in the digital television receiving and/or storing apparatus of FIG. 1 will now be explained. The program packets stored in the storing apparatus 104 are input to the TS demux 102 through the digital interface 106. The input program packets are converted to an A/V elementary stream by the TS demux 102, and the A/V elementary stream is output through the audio decoder 110 and video decoder 112 so that the TV program is played. Here, the control apparatus 108 controls processes for storing and playing the program by the TS demux 102, the digital interface 106, and the storing apparatus 104.
A TS stream is formed with TS packets, each of which is 188 bytes long, and a kind of a TS packet is distinguished by a Packet Identifier (PID). A Program Allocation Table (PAT) includes the PID of a TS packet having a Program Map Table (PMT) which includes the PIDs of TS packets having audio and/or video information related to the TV program. Therefore, in order to demultiplex a TS stream into program packets related to a predetermined TV program, both PAT and PMT information should be known.
Meanwhile, in order to perform trick plays such as Fast Find (FF) and Rewind (REW), a location of an Intra-picture (I-picture) that is a standard for playing a Group of Pictures (GOP) should be known. The location of the I-picture is determined by a picture start code and a picture type code.
In the digital television receiving and/or storing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, where a TV program is stored in the storage apparatus 106, only program packets related to the TV program, each of which has a TS packet shape, are stored. Therefore, where the TV program stored in the storing apparatus 106 is played, reference information for playing the TV program, for example, the PAT, the PMT, and the location of the I-picture, must be extracted from read program packets. However, since the PAT and the PMT are scattered in the TS stream, a delay in reconstructing the PAT and the PMT is encountered, thus slowing down quick play. Accordingly, the structure of the apparatus for playing the TV program becomes complicated and processing delays occur.